Article: Guitar Distortion. Enjoy.

[miroslav]

There's some great amps that fall in-between the 5W and 100W choices.

I know some people WILL record a 100W stack dimed...and yes, it has it's sound, but you can also get the huge crunch tones in the studio with lower wattage amps.

How you set up the amp...how you mic it...the type of room ambience you use (real or added)...all can be manipulated to create all kinds of huge guitar tones without crushing your ears.

Live...that's another thing.

 

[Sonixx]

...it doesn't matter if they play thru a Bassman head, a JCM800, a Fender Champ, a 5150, a Pignose... listening at the same volumes, you'll get desirable results.

We should have a beer over this discussion... and then we'll go back to my place and compare a 64 Bassman, 77 JMP, 67 Champ, and 5150. Maybe I've missed something along the way.

 

[BigMuffinMan]

The natural distortion from overdriving a tube amp is pretty damn sweet.

But, that being said, I think there is alot to gain from pedals aswell. You can't really get a 'fuzz' sound like you'd get from a Big Muff or Fuzz Factory by diming your amp.

Here's a question:

Do you really need to record a say 100W amp cranked at very high decibel levels to get a 'big' sound, when its going to brought back down to line level anyway, vs. recording a 15W cranked at still considerably more than 'line level' dBs? It seems like no matter what amp your using, you're still 'turning it down with the master volume' when you record and mix that sound.

 

[mixmkr]

We should have a beer over this discussion... and then we'll go back to my place and compare a 64 Bassman, 77 JMP, 67 Champ, and 5150. Maybe I've missed something along the way.

Probably missing nothing... But my point is that..highly desirable and "acceptable" results can be obtained from any of those amps. It aint the amp, is my pitch. If your ears are still glued on your head and connected to your brain, AND you're a decent guitar player, you'll blow smoke out of any of those amps. If you don't, your ears will let you know and being the "good" player I'm alluding to... and assuming you probably are (also...like me! ), you'll figure how to "re-group", and make it work. If you're trying to play Montrose thru your Roland Jazz chorus, your ears will let you know, and you'll play something else.

And yes, specific amps for specific genres can be a given... but not a "rule"

 

[ocnor]

Here's a question:

Do you really need to record a say 100W amp cranked at very high decibel levels to get a 'big' sound, when its going to brought back down to line level anyway, vs. recording a 15W cranked at still considerably more than 'line level' dBs? It seems like no matter what amp your using, you're still 'turning it down with the master volume' when you record and mix that sound.

That's a big 10/4 good buddy! It's a domino effect. The amp will respond differently depending on the number and type of tubes as well as how hard the tubes are driven. The speakers in turn will respond to the amp being driven harder. Speaker distortion is an integral part of getting a good rock tone. Higher wattage speakers require much more juice to get them to distort. And if you use lower wattage speakers then more of them are required. The mic will also react to the difference in volume.
When you watch an action movie and you hear an explosion, you are not hearing it at the actual volume that was produced by several sticks of TNT. The volume has obviously been turned down. But if they had used firecrackers instead of dynamite it would sound vastly different even though you are listening to it at the same Db level.